PR-Oct2009

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PLANNING APPLICATIONS

There does seem to be a decrease in the number of applications now being submitted locally; this is probably due to the new Planning Regulations (General Permitted Development Order 2008) that came into force on

1 October 2008. Councillor Yvette Hopley reviewed these revised regulations in our last issue; they now increase the scope of work that owners can undertake without planning permission.

However, so that you don't contravene any planning requirement and hinder any possible sale of your property at a later date, it is always best to check with the Planning Department before commencing any extension. Building Regulation consent will usually be needed and also sometimes the requirements of the Party Wall Act apply.

This Act is usually applicable to any work on a party wall and for any excavation, like foundations, that are dug within either three or six metres of an adjoining property. The person carrying out the work should get the written agreement of any adjoining owners before commencing.

Homeowners having work carried out should also ensure that their building contractors comply with the Council’s Code of Practice: ‘The Control of Pollution and Noise from Demolition and Construction Sites’. The Code of Practice says: ‘where residential occupiers are likely to be affected by noise, the hours of noisy work should be restricted to Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm and Saturday between 8am and 1pm only.

Sundays and Bank Holidays should have no noisy work at any time. Vehicles and deliveries entering and leaving a site should also comply with these hours.’

Any contravention of noise issues can be reported to Croydon’s Pollution Enforcement Team on 020 8760 5483. These noise restrictions generally do not apply to home improvements, such as DIY, unless they are continuous and unreasonable.

Details and progress of significant planning applications follow.

71B Mitchley Avenue

As reported last time, an application for a change of use for this new ground-floor shop, which has recently been built adjoining Saban's Newsagents, was submitted in mid-January. The change of use requested was for a fish and chip shop and for new ducting at the rear. This application was met with a mixed response by local residents. The RRA appreciated that a number of residents welcomed the scheme but there were a few who were against it. However there were only two objections to the Planning Department about this application, one of which was from the RRA. The Principal of Riddlesdown School and the Police also raised some issues.

The main points of concern were: additional litter in the neighbourhood; school children congregating around the parade of shops, mainly after school; regular unhealthy eating for school children; general noise and disturbance; parking issues and cooking smells from the shop. To be fair to the applicant – Mr Ouanounou, (the owner of the Cafe at No. 75) – he did amend his application in a number ways to try and alleviate local concerns and he ought to be praised for doing this.

Because Ward Councillor Lynne Hale also objected, the matter was reported at the Planning Committee on 30 April 2009. The Planning Officers in their report were recommending approval of the scheme and after due discussion, the Planning Committee agreed with their Officers and granted approval.

However, the Committee decided that the premises could only be open from 11.30am to 2.30pm and 4.30pm to 10pm on Monday to Saturday to try and stop school children waiting around the area after school closing. Litter bins will have to be provided in the immediate locality and the applicant has also agreed with the RRA to undertake a litter pick, within about 100 metres of the shop, at the end of each day. He has also agreed to install additional filters within the ducting to reduce the smells from the fryers.

The Planning Officers and Committee did not agree that parking would be an issue, especially in Copthorne Rise, and made no conditions in this respect. This will have to be monitored and, if necessary, with the agreement of residents and shopkeepers, we will revert back to the Council's Parking Division later.

The RRA and Councillor Lynne Hale (whom we thank for her help) and others in the local community have worked in conjunction with Mr Ouanounou to try and overcome some of these concerns and to get the best deal for local residents. We hope it will be to everyone’s satisfaction.

Woodland adjoining 108/110 Lower Barn Road (The Parade of Shops)

As far as we are aware, very little seems to have progressed on the proposed new development since we reported in the last issue.

As you may recall, we advised that the Planning Inspector had given the go-ahead for this controversial scheme to build ten 2-bedroom flats and ten car parking spaces. However this development can only be occupied after the O2 mast, currently sited on the pavement, is moved, probably to the new car park within the development. This will again involve a new planning application for the resiting of the mast. We understand that the Purley Downs Golf Club is currently trying to find a developer to purchase this land. Any updates we hear of will be reported on our website.

68 and 81 Westfield Avenue

As reported in previous issues, a number of planning applications have been submitted for two back-land developments in this road. The first was at No 81, which had two previous applications turned down by the Council and one of them refused on appeal. A third application for the erection of a three-bedroom detached chalet bungalow at rear, the formation of vehicular access onto Copthorne Rise and provision of associated parking was submitted and the Council refused this. The application went to appeal again and on 31 March 2009, the Planning Inspector allowed the development to go ahead.

The second location was at No 68 and was for a third application, for a two-bedroom detached chalet bungalow at the rear, and parking. The applicants appealed on the Council’s refusal of the application and the Planning Inspector upheld the Council’s decision and dismissed the appeal on 4 March 2009.

Purley Fire Station

I reported a year ago that outline planning permission had been granted for the demolition of the existing fire station and the erection of a replacement, comprising appliance bays for two vehicles, a three-storey drill tower and ancillary accommodation.

It will also feature an area where Fire Personnel can meet local people and pass on safety advice.

The London Fire Brigade recently submitted a full planning application and the Council approved this. It is not yet clear as to what will happen while the new station is being built.

Tesco’s wind turbine

As reported last time, Tesco submitted an application, for the siting of a 10.6m high (35 ft), 6 kilowatt wind turbine in their car park, just on the western side of the petrol station. The Council recently approved this application, so we wait with interest to see whether there will be enough wind in this valley to turn the blades. Obviously with the increase of the UK’s power requirements over the next few years and very few new mainstream power stations being built, I’m sure in the very near future, on a cold, frosty, wind free, winter’s day when a huge area of high pressure is sitting over the UK, we will hear the announcement from the National Grid that ‘there is currently no power available at the moment, due to a severe wind shortage which has stopped all the wind turbines rotating throughout the country’!

Wind power needs support from other sources of power, which means for every wind farm built, there should be a coal, gas or nuclear power station available to support these wind farms on windless days.

Network Rail mast at rear of 91/93 Brancaster Lane

Network Rail caused some confusion in May by writing to some residents in Lower Barn Road, near to Riddlesdown Station, about the new 15m radio communication mast that they intend to install. I reported in the October 2008 issue about this; the mast is solely for communication by the train operators on the rail network.

It was shown correctly positioned on the drawing with their letter and is intended to be sited behind 91/93

Brancaster Lane, adjacent to the track, on the golf course side. However at the time, in April 2008, that Network Rail advised the Council of their intentions, they seem to have got the address incorrect and referred to it as rear of 91/93 Lower Barn Rd.

Network Rail basically said in their letter of 11 May 09 that the works will be carried out within four months and will be undertaken mainly through daytime working, unless otherwise notified. Phil Thomas

REGULATORY MATTERS

How big is your garage?

A decade after the Government ordered developers to discourage car ownership by making it difficult to park on new housing, one local authority, Essex County Council, has now produced a new guidance that acknowledges that the policy has failed. Far from reducing car usage, the policy has turned some modern developments into obstacle courses for both pedestrians and motorists.

Essex County Council found that planning guidance imposed by this Government had created a severe shortage of spaces in many developments. Families had not responded by giving up their second or third cars, but were parking on narrow residential roads, thereby blocking access for emergency services and refuse collection vehicles etc. In a survey, the Council found that 78% of garages were not being used to garage vehicles because the trend towards larger cars and 4x4s meant that many vehicles did not fit through the 6.5ft door and within the space. They propose that new garages should in future be 7m x 3m, rather than the existing guidance of 5m x 2.5m, which has been in place since the 1930s. They also propose that there should be larger driveways, more parking spaces per dwelling, bigger on-street bays and more visitor parking. Any home with two or more

bedrooms will require at least two spaces.

A number of other Local Authorities have shown an interest in these proposals. This is in stark contrast to Croydon’s current policy of a maximum of one space per flat and, in some cases, no spaces, which can cause no end of on-street parking problems. It is also going to be a major problem for on-street parking for the new flats development to be built in Lower Barn Road, but this is one aspect that the Planning Inspector ignored. Croydon also need to amend this policy in their new planning review, which is currently being undertaken, to try and clear our cluttered roads of parked cars!

Environmental Issues – Report It!

We have a fairly regular dialogue with the Council on various environmental issues in the area like litter, street cleaning, blocked road gullies, grass verges, broken and missing bollards, potholes in roads and faint white road markings, particularly give-way lines at road junctions. With the help of Councillor Lynne Hale, we have recently had some success with the Council in getting bollards replaced in Lower Barn Road to protect the grass

verges from parking, and also having the white and yellow lines repainted. We are still pursuing them for works to other grass verges in some streets and the appalling state, in particular at most road junctions, of white give-way line markings. We have also had success in getting the salt bin at the Lower Barn Road junction with Coombe Wood Hill replaced. It was removed by them a number of years ago and caused severe inconvenience to an ambulance, on an emergency call, in the snow of early February.

We are also trying to get them to undertake weekend cleaning of a number of streets, within a 500m radius of the station, which are constantly parked in during the week by commuters.

However we are unable to report every defect in the Riddlesdown area. So if you know of any problem, such as an abandoned car, road defect, blocked road gully, a loose, broken or defective manhole cover, defective street light or any environmental problem, then please report it to the Council and help improve the area for all concerned. This can be done either through their website - www.croydon.gov.uk and go to ‘Report It’ on the right side, or telephone 020 8726 7100 or 020 8726 6200.

We would also like thank the increasing number of local residents who are now walking around the streets clearing paper, litter etc., and also the resident who keeps the railway bridge in Lower Barn Road clear of graffiti.

HGVs, PSVs and overnight parking

I don’t know about you, but I seem to have noticed an increasing number of HGVs and large coaches (PSVs) now using our residential roads, in particular Coombe Wood Hill, Brancaster Lane, Riddlesdown Road, and roads leading up to Riddlesdown School via Ingleboro Drive, Derwent Drive and Honister Heights. Although Mitchley Hill and Rectory Park are classed as ‘A’ roads, there are still restrictions on the times that some of these vehicles can use them.

The London Lorry Control scheme controls the movement of any heavy goods vehicles over 18 tonnes maximum weight, at night and at weekends. The times of restriction are between 9pm and 7am Monday to Saturday and Saturday from 1pm through Sunday to 7am Monday.

This ban also applies to the full size refuse vehicles which should not be in our residential streets before 7am. The operators of these vehicles can apply for permits to travel on these roads in the restricted period but they must have good reasons to do so. Croydon Council locally monitors the lorry control scheme and all breaches of this Lorry Control should be reported to them.

A number of roads on the west side of Purley, and also to Grasmere Road and Warren Road, now have restrictions banning vehicles over 7.5 tonnes (unless delivering in the street) and it is maybe something that needs to be monitored and reported to the Council for action to some roads within our area. Perhaps some residents would like to start a discussion about this on the message board on our website.

There also seems to be an increasing number of PSVs collecting and dropping off children from Riddlesdown Collegiate, reversing along Honister Heights from the Derwent Drive junction. This is probably because the school doesn’t permit turning within the school grounds and there is nowhere for them to turn in Dunmail Drive.

This seems to me to be an extremely dangerous practice and an accident waiting to happen. Be warned!

All the London Boroughs also currently ban any commercial vehicle over five tonnes gross weight and vehicles with more than 12 passenger seats from parking within their residential roads overnight between the hours of 6.30pm and 8am, Monday to Sunday. A vehicle over five tonnes, is normally (but not always) recognised as one that has four wheels on the rear axle (rather than two) and a plate somewhere on the vehicle (which maybe in the cab) displaying the maximum gross weight. There are a few of the yellow and black signs, usually fixed to some streetlights in every street, advising of this overnight parking restriction. We have heard of a number of complaints that vehicles over five tonnes are parking in some streets in between these hours. Croydon Council’s Parking Division enforces any contravention here and any enquiry should be directed to them, on 020 8760 7100.

Overhanging hedges, shrubs and trees

We receive complaints and comments about the number of households within the area, particularly in the summer months, who allow vegetation from their gardens to overhang the pavement and public footpaths.

This vegetation can cause inconvenience particularly for people with buggies, in wheelchairs, the disabled and more importantly the visually-impaired, who could walk directly into it and injure themselves.

All property occupiers are legally responsible for ensuring that this does not happen and could have damages awarded against them by a court for an injury. The Council also has the power to serve a notice on the household and, if necessary, undertake the work themselves by removing the danger and charging the owner accordingly.

So check if your vegetation is overhanging the pavement and, if so, then please arrange to cut it back to level with your boundary.

If you want to report an overhang at a particular property to the council, it can be done on the council’s website by going to the Report It section and then ‘Street Pavement Obstruction’ and following the online instructions. Alternatively, you can telephone the Council on 020 8686 4433.

Noisy Diesel Train

From November of last year, some residents noticed an extremely noisy diesel train travelling through the area, causing noise and vibration problems, particularly for those living above the tunnel. We reported this problem to Southern on a number of occasions and one particular diesel train was identified. On 17 April, this train caught fire at Hurst Green Station, with 600 people having to be evacuated.

Southern are still investigating the cause of the fire, which was a catastrophic failure of one of the wheel bearings, and hopefully this has now ended the problems for those affected.